Never Enough: Former Aussie PM Wants Gun Laws Tightened

If you needed proof that no matter how much freedom gun-banners take away, they still want more, look no further than Australia and that country’s former Prime Minister John Howard.

As we all know, Australia is home to some very strict anti-gun regulations, having banned, confiscated and destroyed some 650,000 privately owned firearms back in 1996. Now Howard is calling for even more restrictive measures. “I’m wholly against any watering down of the existing laws, and I would encourage sensible strengthening of the existing laws,” Howard said in a recent interview.

Of course, we all know of at least one U.S. presidential candidate who looks at the Australian ban/confiscation plan as a model for American gun control. Recall that it was Hillary Clinton herself who, at a campaign event in New Hampshire last year, said of the Australian gun ban and forced confiscation of hundreds of thousands of firearms: “Certainly the Australian example is worth looking at.”

Voicemail Proves Operation Choke Point Still Choking Gun Dealers

On Monday, the Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness wrote of two more legal gun dealers denied banking services simply because they’re in the firearms business, a legacy of the Obama administration’s Operation Choke Point.

A voicemail from a People’s United Bank officer in Fairfield, Conn., to Rich Sprandel, an 18-year police veteran and owner of Blue Line Firearms & Tactical, denied his application for a line of credit: “They said they no longer lend to firearms dealers.”

On March 11, an exec from the Asheville branch of HomeTrust Bank told Luke Lichterman, owner of Hunting and Defense of Tryon, N.C., “The banking industry is tightly regulated by the federal government and we cannot approve your (payment service) because of the high-risk nature of your business.”

Operation Choke Point was launched to combat money laundering. However, it labeled firearms sales, along with pornography and escort services, as “high risk.” Consequently, it has intimidated risk-averse banks into denying credit to lawful gun businesses.

Another Month, Another Milestone: March Sets Gun Sales Record

With President Obama’s January executive actions on gun control setting the stage, gun sales once again broke records last month. More than 2.5 million background checks were performed by the FBI in March—a new record for the month by nearly 35,000 over the previous March peak in 2014.

March marks an 11th straight record for monthly checks, stretching back to May of last year. In that span, all-time marks have been set for both monthly and yearly sales, with 7,682,141 checks processed. Currently, gun sales are on track to set another yearly record in 2016.

Escalating sales seem to correspond with increasingly harsh anti-gun rhetoric from Democrats like President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Dallas Resident Challenges County’s No-Gun Policy

In September 2015, a little-noticed measure went into effect in Texas. The law stated that when uncooperative governments post signs to ban citizens from carrying guns where it is legal, they are breaking the law and infringing upon Second Amendment rights.

There have since been nearly 60 complaints filed under that law. One of those included a Dallas resident who, in January, contested that the Dallas County Government Center’s building-wide ban on guns was illegal. County officials argued otherwise, claiming that because the building houses a justice of the peace and truancy courts that a ban was justified. The challenger pointed out that the center also features non-court offices.

Last week, a decision was rendered by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who ordered the “no guns” signs to be removed. He concluded that a reviewing court “would likely conclude the country abused its discretion.” Score one for the Second Amendment.

Universal Employee Back At Work After Alleged “Gun-Free Zone” Firing

Last December, Universal Orlando employee and concealed-carry permit holder Dean Kumanchik left his firearm in his car in the company parking garage. While he was working, his handgun was stolen from his vehicle, and when park officials found out, they fired Kumanchik—a $30-per-hour ride tech and 23-year veteran of the company—for violating the company’s “gun-free zone” policy.

Kumanchik filed a wrongful termination suit based on a Florida law allowing employees to keep firearms in parking lots of private businesses, but Universal made the ludicrous claim that a small alternative school located on park property should classify the entire park as a school zone.

Fortunately, prior to the court date, the parties reached an agreement, giving Kumanchik his job back. “We are pleased to announce that a confidential settlement agreement was reached, and our client has been returned to work in his prior position,” Kumanchik’s attorney, Richard Celler, said. “The right to carry is a vital one, and we take threats to that right seriously.

Louisiana Customer Stops Attack On Clerk

A customer carrying a firearm in a Louisiana convenience store shot and killed a “highly agitated” customer who was berating the store clerk and then attacked the armed customer when he intervened.

According to police, a man who appeared to be in a “highly agitated state” entered the Mandeville, La., store, made a purchase, then began berating the clerk using racial slurs. He left the store, but then re-entered several times, each time becoming more aggressive.

The armed customer attempted to calm the situation and followed the man out of the store to get his license plate number, which made the agitated customer even more irate. When he attacked the armed customer, backing him into the store and into a corner, the other customer shot several times, ending the attack.